Rotunda Reckoning — "We Want Our Lives Back
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Wounded veterans storm the rotunda in coordinated attack, bloodied but determined, with Danar firing a warning shot.
Picard intercepts the brewing firefight, forcing both sides to confront their programming - Danar's conditioning and the senators' cowardice.
Danar delivers the veterans' crushing manifesto—'We want our lives back'—rejecting mere survival for full reintegration.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Anguished defiance — a combination of righteous fury and exhausted desperation demanding restitution.
A ragged cohort of a dozen veterans storms the rotunda from doors, roof and windows, some wounded and bloody; they raise weapons, commit acts of mayhem to puncture complacency, and the leader fires a warning shot to force political acknowledgement.
- • Force public recognition of their suffering and demand reintegration
- • Break the political narrative that allows their exile
- • They were created and therefore deserve to be reclaimed by society
- • Exile is an ongoing punishment worse than death
Ashamed and desperate — toggling between political posture and private panic as violence threatens his authority.
Presides over the Senate hearing, visibly shamed when confronted, attempts political justification (referendum/resettlement), grows desperate as veterans demand reintegration and ultimately pleads privately for Picard's intervention.
- • Preserve political order and his government's legitimacy
- • Avoid immediate violence that could delegitimize his administration
- • The referendum legitimizes the resettlement policy
- • Maintaining public order is paramount even if morally compromising
Anxious and defensive — doubling down on official talking points to maintain control and morale.
Distributes phaser rifles to senators, repeats the political line about 'the will of the people,' and reinforces a posture of defensive readiness and rationalization as the veterans enter.
- • Arm the senate to present a credible threat deterrent
- • Maintain the narrative that resettlement was democratically chosen
- • Public opinion (referendum) justifies government action
- • A show of force will deter further escalation
Firm, morally resolute — controlled indignation masking grief for the betrayed veterans.
Physically interposes between armed veterans and Angosian officials, delivers moral indictment of Angosia's policies, refuses to offer military intervention, keys his insignia to order the away-team beam out, and leaves responsibility with Nayrok.
- • Prevent immediate bloodshed in the rotunda
- • Deny the Enterprise being used as a tool for coercive intervention
- • Force Angosian authorities to face and own their policy consequences
- • Federation must not be a military enforcer for a domestic political failing
- • Moral responsibility for the veterans lies with Angosia's government
- • Leaving the decision to Angosia will expose the truth and consequences
Curious and pointed — intellectually driven to uncover facts, with underlying moral concern about agency and repair.
Clinically interrogates the Prime Minister about the reversibility of biochemical and psychological conditioning, exposing official uncertainty and pressing the technical possibility of remediation.
- • Determine whether Angosia has attempted or can attempt to reverse conditioning
- • Extract factual admissions that will inform Picard's diplomatic stance
- • If the technology exists to create conditioning it may exist to reverse it
- • Clear facts will change the moral calculus of those present
Stern, controlled readiness — prepared for violence though constrained by Picard's command.
Stands as the away-team's tactical presence, challenges Nayrok about disclosure to the soldiers, watches the entry points and veterans' weapons readiness, prepared to act if Picard orders use of force.
- • Ensure the Captain and team remain safe
- • Expose any immediate threat and be ready to neutralize it
- • Security must be maintained on the ship and during away missions
- • Clear disclosure of risks is the responsibility of political leaders
Calmly responsive — professional focus on executing orders.
Responds via comm to Picard's order to beam the away team back, executing Picard's command and providing the procedural link that enables the team's departure from the rotunda.
- • Carry out Picard's beam-up order quickly and accurately
- • Maintain shipboard protocols under pressure
- • Follow the Captain's orders promptly
- • Technical reliability is essential to crew safety
Compassionate urgency — frustrated by political obfuscation and intent on centering human suffering.
Provides empathic contact with Roga, prompts him to articulate his demand, challenges Zaynar's and Nayrok's rationalizations, and urges the possibility of treatment and partial recovery as a humane alternative to exile.
- • Get Roga to state his desires clearly so his humanity cannot be ignored
- • Push Angosian officials to attempt treatment rather than dismissal
- • Even partial psychological recovery would meaningfully improve victims' lives
- • Emotional truth can breach political denial
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The ceremonial rotunda double doors serve as the dramatic breach point when Roga and veterans burst in; the doors bear scuffs and marks from the forced entry, framing the sudden collapse of civic order and the invasion of violence into a formal chamber.
Long‑barreled phaser rifles are distributed to senators by Zaynar as a defensive gesture and are also brandished by the veterans; their presence escalates tension, frames the senators' fear, and makes the potential for lethal exchange explicit in the rotunda.
A Starfleet combadge is keyed by Picard to contact the Enterprise and to order the away-team beam back; the insignia acts as a procedural lever that withdraws Starfleet presence and refuses to convert the ship into an instrument of coercion.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Angosia, as the sovereign planet hosting the Senate, provides the political and moral backdrop for the confrontation; the planet's policies created the veterans and its institutions now face public exposure in the rotunda.
The Center of the City is the implied destination toward which the veterans were moving; it functions narratively as the populated, symbolic target that raises stakes and public fear, forcing senators to react defensively.
Lunar Five Settlement is repeatedly invoked as the government's proposed solution for the veterans' resettlement; in this event it functions as the conditional exile offered by Nayrok contrasted with the veterans' demand for homecoming.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The revelation of Angosia's culpability in Danar's conditioning escalates into a full-blown rebellion as veterans storm the capitol, demanding justice and reintegration."
"The revelation of Angosia's culpability in Danar's conditioning escalates into a full-blown rebellion as veterans storm the capitol, demanding justice and reintegration."
"Nayrok and the senators arming themselves with unfamiliar phasers symbolizes their unpreparedness and moral cowardice, contrasting with Danar and the veterans' disciplined yet desperate demand for justice."
"Nayrok and the senators arming themselves with unfamiliar phasers symbolizes their unpreparedness and moral cowardice, contrasting with Danar and the veterans' disciplined yet desperate demand for justice."
"The revelation of Danar's tragic backstory parallels his later demand for 'lives back,' reinforcing the theme of Angosia's moral failure in creating and then discarding its soldiers."
"The revelation of Danar's tragic backstory parallels his later demand for 'lives back,' reinforcing the theme of Angosia's moral failure in creating and then discarding its soldiers."
"Picard's strategic withdrawal from the Angosian capitol naturally leads to his subsequent instructions to Riker regarding the Federation's offer of assistance."
"Picard's strategic withdrawal from the Angosian capitol naturally leads to his subsequent instructions to Riker regarding the Federation's offer of assistance."
"Nayrok and the senators arming themselves with unfamiliar phasers symbolizes their unpreparedness and moral cowardice, contrasting with Danar and the veterans' disciplined yet desperate demand for justice."
"Nayrok and the senators arming themselves with unfamiliar phasers symbolizes their unpreparedness and moral cowardice, contrasting with Danar and the veterans' disciplined yet desperate demand for justice."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: "You are dangerous. They are only victims. You made them what they are. You asked them to defend your way of life... then you discarded them.""
"ROGA: "We want our lives back. We want to come home.""
"PICARD: "We have everything we need for our report. Your prisoner has been returned to you. You have a decision to make... either try to force them back or welcome them home. It's been an interesting stay. When you are ready for membership in the Federation, we will be pleased to reconsider your application.""